*Gasp* - A sudden movement from Ian, he leaps up from the bloody ground, instantly releasing three fast kicks.
*Crack* - Sound of three skulls getting broken clang as some crispy snacks, the green fishy blood splashes out as a smashed tomato.
*Tch* - He frowns slightly and touches his left arm which is cut down while he's falling asleep. For those terrible things he has tolerated, Ian hates getting hurt the most, raising that foot again, he crushes all the ugly headless bodies lying on the ground as if he's taking revenge for himself.
Ian: "What the * is this bad luck?"
He tries to expand his zone outside in order to determine where he is, however, the border is stopped at ten meter scale.
Ian: "The f*?"
He recalls and tries it again, it's still the same, his zone is forced to stop at the tenth meter.
Ian: *Tch*
*Whirr* - A stone axe suddenly flies straight to his head while Ian is wondering about the exact situation that he's in.
Ian: *Tch*
He instantly grabs that flying object by his right hand and rushes straight to that direction.
*Whirr* - Another time, three arrows fly straight to his head, heart and left leg. That's a wise choice, even though his right foot was hurt before, it's non-stop bleeding through each step he steps on the ground and trees.
*Clang* - He swings that axe, instantly knocking the first arrow to another direction, non-stop, he jumps up while using the side of it to block the second shot. His left foot is covered in a transparent wind, taking the advantage of the third arrow as a fulcrum to jump up another time.
He found them. There are three ugly creatures with the green skin and bald heads, obviously they are goblins - the monsters in the lowest tier of the ecosystem.
Ian isn't surprised by these guys, he might kill over thousand of them in his old realm already. Nevertheless, he's attracted by their strategy, those idiots goblins in his memory weren't this smart, generally.
*Splash* - He strongly splits one of them into two pieces, perfectly, while throwing three small rocks into the two goblins left. One of them was hit by the rock, instantly losing the bow in its hands, the warrior goblin could block another one, but the final rock had hit its left eye already.
The blood splashed out, giving it an obscure vision with the blurry green mist covering its sight.
It swings the iron sword randomly in order to protect itself from Ian, however, unfortunately he doesn't even care.
*Splash* - An arrow came out of nowhere, instantly penetrating the iron helmet protecting that last goblin and even its head. He leisurely grabs the arrow, it is the third one which he stepped on. He had carved into it his zone mark, he aimed to use his limited zone to load the map around him - it actually worked and saved his time a lot.
He instantly realizes that here it is a cave of a creature that's called "Orc", their average height is about 3.45 meters and even their weight reaches to 650kg. It isn't the problem that Ian wants to face or not, but the true issue is the limit applied on him right now.
He only knows the best how terrible it is, all the normal abilities are limited terribly, while the special moves can't even be used as if there is an unknown force locking him up.
Based on the regeneration of his normal stamina right now, Ian is really sure that he might fall down after a five-hour non-stop fight. Whatever the theory, killing those orcs makes no sense for him at this moment, so he turns around and keeps tracking the nearest village.
*Boom* - Suddenly a pillar of flame appears behind him, exactly at the hill behind him. Ian instantly changes his mind, he wants to determine how strong a mage is in this realm. Ian's surely aware of humanity, do not forget that he started at the lowest class in the society. In other words, he neither stands on the human side nor non-human side.
But he needs a safe plan to observe everything; he looks at the arrow, the old way isn't suitable for this situation. There is a thing existing inside the air, it contains the other kind of energy used in some special way - mana particles. These particles can be controlled by any mage if they are the natural one - which means any mage could track on him instantly if Ian made a mistake.
Furthermore, he can't examine the zone of that guy, there are only two ways to interact with other's zone without making them realize it.
Or you need an extremely large zone, then drowning those smaller domains inside yours. You will have a possibility to dominate all of them.
Or you need a special ability to reflect the border of other's zones into your eyes.
And Ian has none of them, he even used martial arts and weapons for his entire life, he hasn't touched a finger into mana, let alone to cast a spell by himself. The one-and-only spell he knows is zone expansion, but it isn't considered an official spell actually. In short, he is a standard warrior with a longsword and a great sword.
Ian: (Should I...)
*Boom* - "You better die." - A small lady floats among the wind, her hands holding a slender blue gray metal staff. At its top, there is a sparkling blue cube turning around and around rhythmically; within a glance, Ian can make sure that she isn't a normal mage.
He silently tracks her and another mage, who is running as fast as she can through the half a dozen trees, and carefully rates their level of power.
"Are you crazy? Why are you chasing me!?" - Her voice contains a clear despair inside, perhaps that voice is so familiar to Ian that he just gets surprised.
Ian: (Clara? What is going on?)
*Haha* - That lady laughs, it's twisted as a broken mirror - a distorted characteristic.
"You even stole it and acted as an innocent, who gave you that confidence?" - She strongly growls her voice down two tones, her right eyes reflecting the red light - standing for something that's really powerful.
Ian: (Tch.)
Clara: "It is even mine! You all were the ones who tried to steal it from me!" - She yells at that small lady, nevertheless, the weak aren't supposed to request justice.
*Thud* - That girl is trampled miserably, even though she can no longer struggle, that lady still mistreats her as a little hobby. Her smile is distorted terribly, showing all the expressions of madness.
*Whirr - Clash* - A small stone dagger is instantly thrown straight to her heart position, thankfully the mana shield has parried for that lady a critical strike, however it is still broken after that strike.
"How dare yo...!" - Her voice struggled in her throat, she felt the deadly killing will of an undefined enemy.
She automatically determined that guy was an assassin due to her own experience. However, while that lady was confused, Ian approached Clara within a second.
He makes a signal of keeping silent and grabs her as fast as he can, leaping forward after leaving there an axe - which he "borrowed" from the goblin.
Of course he can't use mana, but leading them to assemble into an object is still possible for him right now, at least it can work as a bomb.
*Boom* - A small explosion instantly occurs near that lady, due to the fact that her mana shield just got broken, obviously all the damage is taken by herself. The dust fills up all the space surrounding her - blocking all the sight.
Taking that advantage, Ian boosts his two feet with the transparent winds, consequently his speed is upgraded into two higher levels. Nevertheless, he's aware of that opponent's power, the only thing he can do right now is run as fast as he can until she gives up. How about fighting? It's just impossible in any way.
He could hide himself inside her zone via his special technique related to "Ki" - every living creature has the specific signal of existence that's called "Ki" throughout their bodies. By hiding it absolutely, Ian can be invisible inside any kind of zone and quick scan spell.
But the problem is Clara, she can't do it by herself, by touching her hand, Ian knows that she is exhausted by the previous effort of escaping the small lady.
Ian: (Hopefully she needs to struggle for two more minutes. Wish me luck then.)
Clara (murmuring): "You don't need to help me, do you know who she is?"
Ian (murmuring): "Don't worry, I can rescue you in any way. I just woke up for ten minutes, I need someone to explain everything for me. Got it?"
Clara: "Reasonable, if we can survive, I owe you a favor."
Ian (murmuring): "Alright. I need you to accumulate your mana into this dagger."
He takes out two daggers totally, one is given to Clara, one is held by himself. He has an idea, if it works, they will clearly be able to escape.
Suddenly, he comes up with an idea.
Ian: "How about you accumulate all your mana on this dagger? You will no longer worry about being tracked by her zone, while I can use Ki to erase all our existences?"
Clara: "It is just impossible."
*Whirr* - A massive tornado is thrown straight at them without any signal. Observing that detail, Ian instantly holds Clara tightly and dashes aside with the maximum speed. Obviously he dodged it already, however the true calamity is just getting started.
*Zzzt* - Ian: "Even the thunder?"
*Boom* - Fortunately, it was just a fast beam, but the bad news is he just got tracked via a seal.
Clara: "It will reveal our location each five seconds in five minutes."
Ian: "There must be a limit, right?" - "Of course." - Clara replies with difficulty, her voice shows out all the bad situations she's dealing with.
Clara: "If we can escape her zone, I have enough mana to teleport one more time."
Ian: "It isn't that easy, you can only teleport yourself away, right?"
She observes silence,...
Ian: "I know what you're aiming for. Don't worry, I told you already, I can save us."
*Whirr* - Walking through the zone full of dust, she slightly grabs the metal staff. Her eyes shine up a will of killing those two brats - instantly, the mana surrounding her place is frantically assembling into her hand.
The two previous spells are only the nice and warm greeting that she specially prepared for them. Do you remember the seal on Ian's leg? It is even more useful than just revealing his location periodically.
"Unseen and free…" - Wind Burst (spell level 2)- Suddenly the winds even rush toward her more frantically.
Shockwave (spell level 3) - It usually unleashes all the accumulated winds of the user, however it is in chains right now.
*Whirr!* - Wind Burst 2 (spell level 4) - The winds dance upon her hands, warning for a one-shot attack.
*Whirr!* - Wind Arrow (spell level 6) - She steps her left foot ahead, rotating her ankles and the body.
Her right hand moves straight forward the arrow which is held steady by her left hand, this is the strongest wind spell of the small lady.
"Go!* - *Whoosh!* - The arrow is sent flying straight to the target after getting boosted.
Clara: "Oh… you should throw me away."
Ian: "Don't worry, when the arrow comes, release all the mana you've been accumulating into it."
Clara: "Can't, this is the chained spell, knocking it back is just impossible."
Ian: "So do we have any alternative?"
Clara: "There's one,..."
Ian: "Got it."
Burst! Ian's wind burst isn't the same as the Wind Burst spell of that lady, he only unleashes his own energy and covers his feet with them. The only use of that technique is accelerating his base speed.
However the true problem is the loss, 50% of his used energy is wasted per each step he rushes. With this condition, it would be very nice if he could maintain this speed for over an hour.
Ian: "We only have a chance." - Clara observes silence, she has entered her zone.
*Whirr* - It's coming.
*Whirr* - Twenty meters from behind.
*Whirr!* - Fifteen meters far from her rear.
*Fssh* - Suddenly it disappears at a distance of ten meters.
Clara: "Ian!" - "Got it!"
He jumps up while rotating himself, putting Clara away from the arrow, behind his body. The mana accumulated dagger of her is suitably put between his left foot and the arrow.
*Boom* - As planned, they are sent flying away by the shockwave of the arrow, and now it is Clara's work.
Their purpose is taking advantage of this shockwave, via the mana dagger, Ian has exchanged as much energy to the inclined launch force as possible.
Clara will play the key role for this stage, she controls the mana and reforms it to the teardrop shape after they both reduce the contact era. The nose is set as the hardest part in order to maintain the whole protection.
The skin is set as glass, absolutely smooth, slowly expands to the middle and again slowly narrows until the end. The shield is only three centimeters, sticks close to their bodies, furthermore, there are specific winds mobilized inside it. All of those settings are used for maintaining the winds in the laminar flows.
Nice set up, but, "Where are you going?" - *Whirr* - something is cutting through the winds and approaching them with incredible speed.
Two seconds - Clara and Ian have flown 35 meters away from the starting point.
Five seconds - At the distance 87.5 meters from the starting point, they are hit by that invisible strike while floating in the air.
*Splash* - As usual, Ian instantly takes the hit of that spell, his body is carved a bloody line deeply into his ribcage and lungs.
Clara: "Ian!"
Ian coughs drily while his fishy blood overflowing his mouth, "Focus, Clara."
"I asked you, where are you going?" - That small lady doesn't want to stop like this, she holds her staff tight, "Crack the silence…"
*Grab!* - Suddenly a random guy appears and grabs her wrist, preventing her totally from casting the thunder spell.
"You can stop right now."
"No!" - She growls angrily, she doesn't want to let them survive after stealing that thing.
"You don't need to do that far, Fenryn."
She strongly pulled her hand away from that guy, her eyes glance to him as if he did something very awful to her.
Fenryn (scowling): "If you have that time, get lost and do your work."
Even though she shows nothing related to giving up, she actually can not win against him.
Her teeth are gritted tightly, the fire of rage isn't soothed but even increased. Fenryn throws the scroll straight to the ground as if it's her ex boyfriend, the cyan light pillar shines up, covering her inside itself. This is how the rich mages save their time on travelling, teleporting scrolls.
In the last second, she looks back to him and declares a war.
Fenryn: "For the next time, I will shatter you."
*Sigh* - "Alright, whatever, good luck then."
He turns around, wondering about the situation that they are in.
"Alright, whatever." - *Boom* - He leaps up with his bare feet, without any spell nor boost, but he can even jump two kilometers as a max distance.
"Uhhhhh…. ah, here." - He dives straight to the gate of a cave, where Clare and Ian are struggling with Orcs.
*Splat* - The first unfortunate Orc is crushed to a dark green liquid. He leisurely glances on Ian, who is lying on the ground with a deep cut in his chest, and throws a red potion.
"Drink it, you guys owe me 5000 Bargads, or 2000 ACs, it's up to you all. Because I'm a very very good guy so…"
*Splat* - The consequence of disrespecting others looks like the second orc which is just sent to death.
"I will not charge you guys for this help." - *Whirr - Crack* - He instantly dodges a heavy strike from an Orc, easy as pie.
*Thud* - A big bloody hole is left on itself without any signal. *Crack* - The fourth one is destroyed totally, leaving back no liquid nor bone.
Clara: "Who… who are you?" - Her voice is somehow unsteady.
"Hmm? Let's see, just call me Aetheria, or Aeth, whatever." - *Splat* - He slightly swings his hand, crushing another pitiful Orc to a bunch of meat and blood.
Aetheria: "And, both of you are outsiders, right?"
Clara: "Yes."
Aetheria: "Alright, I will give you some answers, so please treat me equally."
As soon as finishing that sentence, there are 23 corpses and remains of Orcs, that doesn't even include those which were wiped out instantly.
Aetheria: "You awake, don't you?"
Ian: "Ye. Tell me what you want."
Aeth leisurely wipes out all the fishy blood on his hand, even washing his hands in the water extracted from the air.
Aetheria: "Aight, shall we begin?"
West Verol, on the bloody battlefield of humans and beasts. *Splash* - There is a guy with the unique blood spear slaughtering all the non-human beings.
The crimson blood coming from them can even fill up a whole pool, they are the evidence for his feats and achievements.
"Marshal, all the enemies are defeated." - He is a major general under that bloody guy.
"I see, how many red points are left?" - That guy stabs the spear through the ground, rapidly absorbing all the blood scattered all over the forest. Even though he has witnessed this scene many times, that general can't get used to this action.
"Are you still afraid of it?" - The Marshal arbitrarily throws a joke.
"Ah, yes, I have mysophobia, sir." - This is the third time he's used this answer and they both laugh for a while.
"You haven't answered me."
"Ah, sorry sir. There are still five more red zones." - He instantly comes back to the demeanor of a general in the military.
"I see." - That guy slightly uses the crimson blood to stroke his hair, dyeing it in the thick red liquid.
"Have you done what I said?" - He asks the last question.
"Yes, sir!" - As soon as that sentence is shouted out, the Marshal instantly disappears into a bloody hole under him.
This is one of his abilities, no matter the distance, whenever his seals are still available, he can shift himself to anywhere within five seconds.
"Yo, long time no see." - A girl with light yellow hair extends that greeting to him with a friendly demeanor. However, it isn't allowed in the military after all.
"You've acted arbitrarily again, Lucy." - He slightly sighs a bit, with those feats, she is going to meet the Grand Marshal soon.
"I told you to act as a general, Lucy. Two more days, you are going to see the Ma'am Alphabet in two more days." - He complains to her as a babysitter.
Lucy: "Don't worry Luker, I will pay attention."
Luker: "That's the worst promise I can hear in my entire life."
*Grrr* - At their left side, a Class 2 beast rapidly approaches them with the poisonous fangs.
Lucy: "Stone - Stake - Shoot." - As soon as her strange incantation is finished, the beast is stabbed through by a sharp and hard stone stake. It means that Lucy is at another higher level, she no longer needs to use the full incantation to increase the energy output.
Luker: "What is your level right now?"
Lucy: "19 already."
Luker: "Alright, just level up and take a rest until the next battle."
Lucy: "Whatever, I'm trying."
Luker: "It seems like you've cleared this side, let's move on to the other one."
He grabs her shoulder, instantly opens a bloody hole under their feet and shifts them to the third battlefield.
Luker: "Alright, I'll come back after two hours."
Lucy: "Don't forget to buy me a strawberry cake."
Luker: "I'm not your servant."
Lucy: "Please."
Luker: "Alright, whatever."
They are just like that, leisure, cavalier and free. But when Luker rotates himself, he feels it, his smile just blooms again.
Luker: "So you've awakened, Ian."
At the same time, a seal on Ian's right hand shines up itself as a signal of their bond. Both of them know that each other are staying in the same dimension, it isn't bad news.
Ian (smiling): "Do you know where Verol is?"
Aetheria: "From here, to the East, around… let's see… 1, 2, 3,... 13 vestiges."
Ian: "What is vestige?"
Clara: "It is the specific zone created by blood and rancors of many humans and beasts. They usually contain the stained mana, so it's not a good idea to walk through it you know."
Ian: "I see." - Then he looks to Aetheria, waiting for the useful information.
Matching that thought, he instantly takes out the map and points to where they are.
Aetheria: "From here, you need to follow the small road." - Then his finger points to another small road.
Aetheria: "From this one, you have two options. The left side will lead you through at least two vestiges, but they are safe enough. You just need not stay over two hours total, then you will be safe."
Ian: "So, how about the other one?" - He points to a grey zone on the map, he doesn't get what it means.
Aetheria: "It's the singularity no.97 where the majority of beasts in this area come from. But don't worry, it isn't large enough to cause a dimensional rift, you will need to be careful and move slowly. Hiding yourself from their sight."
Ian: "Who do you mean there?"
Aetheria: "Under the ground, you will need to determine where the bloody worms are. On the ground, you will need to dodge the alternate trees and inside the smoke, you won't want to be caught by the four-wing bats."
Ian: "What if I just got caught?"
Aetheria: "Who knows? No one is still alive after being absorbed by singularity."
Ian: "Alright, now is your turn."
Aeth slightly throws the map to Ian, he is such a nice guy after all.
Aetheria: "Hmm? What should I ask? How about…" - He opens his zone, isolating this space inside a barrier. He doesn't want this dialogue to be recorded by others.
Aetheria: "If you come here from another dimension, tell me something useful."
Ian carefully thinks about those details that Yujin revealed, but they seem useless.
Clara: "We got limited by this realm, especially a mage like me. I can't absorb too much mana inside myself, and they are impossible to mix with mine."
Aetheria: "I see, I have an idea. How about converting all your mana into our mana?"
She looks at him with a weird look.
Clara (hesitating): "Umh, but how?"
Aetheria: "That's why you need to try. The first-and-only outsider I saw in my life was a weird guy, he doesn't even need to exchange his power into the allowed one in this realm."
He hesitates a bit, he is loading that dialogue again.
Aetheria: "He told me it is about the structure of the energy."
Clara: "The… structure?" - "I don't know, he just farmed aura too hard and just disappeared in my life as a weirdo."
Aeth replies honestly, he actually has no glue about that guy.
Ian: "I think I have some interesting information for you."
Aetheria: "Go ahead."
Ian: "We appear in this realm with at least one specific purpose."
Aetheria (attracted): "Keep going."
Ian: "We all come from the broken realms, appearing on the ancient vestige with some terrible events."
He takes the evidence that The Outer Gods tried to kill all the Players to strengthen his argument.
Ian: "They are ruling this world as a gameplay for us."
Aeth instantly looks at him with a curious look.
Aetheria: "I don't get it. Why can't I hear your voice?"
Ian looks back to him as confirming that detail. After Aeth makes sure that he can't hear the key ideas of that speech, Ian instantly realizes that it was the censorship of those Chess Players.
Aetheria: "So there must be something limiting me, the native guy, to hear the secret from you, the outsider, and figure out the important events of the future?"
Ian: "Ye, in this stage of the timeline, there might be many things you can't take them clearly." - "I see."
"But how did you all escape from them?" - He suddenly reminded Ian about the worst nightmare of his life. To discuss this topic, his hands are even shaking without his consciousness.
Ian: "I do not even know. It was a broken sky, under the starlight they appeared with unstoppable power. I hadn't even stood a chance beneath that pressure and after a blink I was here."
Aetheria: "How strong are them?"
"I don't know, Yujin mentioned that they were limited by the game rules." - Ian replies.
Aetheria: "Who?" - "Yujin."
As realize something, Ian claims Yujin with an appellation - The Challenger. He feels like that guy was really trying to beat everyone and destroy everything blocking his way.
Ian: "He is GOAT for real."
Aetheria: "Did he beat all the Outer Gods?" - Aeth curiously wonders.
Ian: "I don't know, but I'm sure that he had to do something to save 800 of us at the end. After the barrier was broken, we were absorbed by a white light. I have no idea about other details."
Aetheria: "I see.:."
Clara suddenly comes up with a crazy thought, "I think… The Outer Gods are who we need to beat at the end."
That idea instantly gets ignored by Ian, he doesn't think their purpose is killing all Players.
Ian: "First, they were aiming straight to Yujin, not us. Next, Loki, Chronos and Osiris, they were playing around until Yujin countered them. Which means they only targeted us as a pleasure."
Clara: "But that old man, Chronos, he mentioned that they really needed to take time and kill all of us."
Ian: "Don't you forget what they said before that?"
He takes out three small stones, respectively standing for Yujin (red) - The Outer Gods (gray) - Players (blue).
He places the gray and red one into a small zone.
Ian: "The Outer Gods aimed for Yujin."
Then he put the blue stone behind the red one, at the edge of the circle.
Ian: "We are just a secondary priority, or even we are not their prey. We are not as strong as him and we also can't stand a chance beneath their power. Following the rules of nature, they have no purpose to kill us at all."
"But… how about their goal isn't eliminating all of you?" - Ian suddenly looks at Aeth.
Aetheria: "What if.., they are looking for something that you guys will be able to achieve?"
Ian glances at him with a sharp look, "Go on."
Aetheria: "If they are Gods, they must have some power that we can't explain in normal logic. In history, Saint Alacia was able to control the flow of time with a specific price. What if The Outer Gods also can do that?"
That's an explosive prediction. Ian immerses in those three stones, finding the possible idea with the information from Yujin.
Clara: "I have no idea about that. I'm always on the theory that they are going to kill all the Players."
One minute has passed - no one says anything.
Two minutes - nothing has changed.
Three minutes - Aetheria: "So,..." - "They might want to replace us."
Clara doesn't get it, so does Aetheria. Knowing that reasonable action, Ian continues, slowly, with a question.
Ian: "Aetheria, have you ever heard about any myth or legend of any incredible beings? Any kind of superior beings."
Aetheria: "No, actually we are not allowed to get access to that knowledge."
He points to his shirt, at the golden medal which contains a dove holding an olive branch.
Aetheria: "Who do you think I am?"
Ian: "Priest?" - "How the * can you determine that I'm a priest with this outfit dude?" - Via this answer, Aeth realizes that Ian isn't an ordinary guy. He isn't normal, especially on brain work.
Clara: "Holy Knight?"
Aetheria smiles gently, he flicks the medal and admits that he is one of The Twelve Golden Knights. All his behaviors show out that he is really proud about this merit.
Aetheria: "I'm not a Holy Knight yet, I still have two more levels to surpass. However, I have enough authority to know a part of the reason behind the rules."
He flicks the medal into Ian's hand and continues the problem.
Aetheria: "A dove with an olive branch, they stand for the peace of this world."
Ian (curious): "So what is the point?" - "It is the mark they show to the world."
Aeth is suddenly being serious, he unleashes his purple deadly aura toward both Clara and Ian as a declaration of death.
Aetheria: "If I was an Eldritch God right now, and I was unable to access the world arbitrarily. What would you plan to do in order to stop me from descending again in that realm?"
Ian slowly shakes his head, he doesn't get what Aeth means. He looks to Clara, she neither knows anything.
Aeth takes out three more stones, he puts the first one on the ground - standing for the Holy Council. The two left symbolize for the humans or furthermore - all the creatures in the world.
Aetheria: "The Holy Council assembled in the past and dominated all the beliefs of humans via their religion."
He reminds Ian the question he asked him before.
Aetheria: "They must have a purpose for this action. No other gods are allowed in this era."
In his unconsciousness, Ian has moved the grey stone into the new circle - staying on top of another stone which stands for the creatures.
His cold sweats are suddenly overflowing through his back, the voice trembling a bit at the start.
Ian: "They… are trying to enter this world one more time?"
Aetheria: "And now your argument about replacement is half-approved."
His hands tremble through each second passing away, he bows his head down a bit, opening his eyes widely to look at the simple simulation he made.
Ian: "I need… power."
His eyes shine with determination, he is really serious about this decision. Ian does not have a really great ambition, neither intention of achieving something nor protecting someone. He only knows that the fire standing for his ego is burning inside his heart, the moldering fire.
Ian: "Tell me, what did that small lady do to almost defeat me? And what do I need right now to beat her."
*Haha* - Aeth laughs slightly, that's a good question, he feels regret right now. It's going to take him a long time for this unpredictable journey.
Then he looks at Clara, waiting for a response.
Clara: "Sorry, I am in the Miladous Tower already. I need to get back to my team soon."
Aetheria: "I see, don't worry. I know someone in that union, let's do you a favor. I will upgrade your grade from 2 to 3, and about using it wisely or not, it's based on you."
She smiles softly, it's been half a year for her to grind from grade 1 to grade 2. But her final purpose is lying on the grade 4, if she can have grade 3 authority right now, it would be the best gift for Clara at this moment.
Clara: "Thanks."
Aeth also smiles, then he looks at Ian with his sharp eyes.
Aetheria: "Unleash your aura."
*Whirr* - Suddenly the space inside the small cave is filled by cyan energy, this is Ian's inner power.
Aetheria: "Great, now concentrate it around your body, until you can't make it denser anymore."
*Whirr* - Following the volition of Ian and the guidance from Aeth, those light cyan flows are led back to Ian - surrounding him as a full wind shield.
Aetheria: "Now try to compress it, if you can't, rotating them around you with the maximum speed, weaving them into each other."
Aeth doesn't know exactly the way of exchanging other power to mana in this world, however he can teach Ian to use his power wisely.
Because the first time he saw Ian, he witnessed the massive potential in that body.
Aetheria: (To be honest, this guy even contains more energy than me at least 25 times.)
More information about this guy. Aetheria Ponyagrad, he is one of 12 Golden Knights of Holy Council - who can even threaten the whole city with his bare hands. It is true that he can even defeat 10000 beasts in a fight without any help or weapon, he is just powerful after all.
The main key for that massive energy output is his non-stop efforts of trying to be better day by day. None of his time is wasted by laziness, and the unshakable mentality is the other reason.
However, Heaven is against talented people, his total energy is too low. Compared to the same level Golden Knights, he is only at the 7th place for his pitiful mana. That's why he tries to use another kind of power - Aura.
Aetheria: "Aura is the energy that your body creates by consuming other energy sources, try to mix your own energy and mana around you. Filling them up, until it's no longer possible to concentrate, moving them all to your hands.
Twenty seconds, twenty seconds are the total amount of time that Ian needs to do all of those stages. When his eyes open again, his hand is covered by an extremely dense ocean blue energy.
Ian: "Is this my Aura?"
Aetheria: "Aura isn't supposed to be in a frame you know. It's just your inner power, this kind of energy can't be released in a far distance. In other words, Aura is bound with the image of warriors and knights, they usually use it to strengthen themselves instead of casting spells."
Ian: "That sounds fun to me."
Aetheria: "Now I teach you a technique, it isn't an ability, just a simple technique to maximize your power efficiency."
They both move outside the cave, walking a while until meeting a high oak tree, "Alright." - Aeth slightly mobilizes his Aura into his right fist, concentrating it into the strongest form.
Aetheria: "Aura has totally 6 basic usages, however you will need to figure it out by yourself. This technique is what I usually use to maximize the damage of my Aura Fist."
By moving both hips, shoulders and arm toward. He proactively draws a line for those energy flows, creating a tendency of moving, forcing them follow his fist. While maintaining the same and stable breaths, Aetheria can land a strike with almost 90% of his Aura converted to damage.
*Boom* - Not only that oak tree, but the whole space behind it, a large zone is blown away by the shockwave.
"...this kind of energy can't be released in a far distance." - Ian has realized a new lesson.
Ian: "So I can release it in a close distance to take advantage of attack speed and power."
Aetheria: "Great. If you are willing, I can invite you into our union. Try to get to the Silver Knight rank, you will have a lot of authority to learn and become stronger."
As considering something, Ian hesitates about this invitation. He knows that he has promised to see Luker soon, however Ian knows that with this pitiful ability, he can't do anything.
Ian: "I'm willing."
As receiving the best answer, Aeth slightly smiles, he points forward while looking back at him.
Ian matches that thought, he redoes all the previous actions from Aetheria, moving his body intentionally while controlling both breaths and moving tendency of Aura.
*Crack* - It wasn't the sound of an explosion like Aetheria, but a crack sound of something being broken into pieces.
Aetheria: "How the f*?"
It is almost impossible to land this kind of attack the first time doing this strike. Aeth hasn't told Ian about this official name of technique. It is called with a name - Breaker - it is used to break other skulls, ribs, legs, arms or anything else. But there is another usage.
Space is a concept, however, there's somehow a reason allowing the peak fighters to land a strike that's strong enough to touch that concept, touch the space by their fist. Breaking them into pieces, the shockwave and power unleashed is just unpredictable, it is just overpowered.
Aetheria: "You are a genius, Ian."
Ian: "What was that?" - He smiles as a child just finds out a new toy, his ego is trembling stronger and stronger. The adrenaline is released 150% inside his brain.
Ian: "This feeling, it is just too addictive."
Aeth also smiles while replying to that action, he covers his eyes with his right hand and laughs as large as possible.
Aetheria: "Crazy, you can even reach that far, so wild."
He unleashes his deadly aura again, it dominates all the zones around them in the distance of fifty meters. He enters his fighting position, this is the highest respect that Aeth can show to Ian.
Aetheria: "Come here, Ian! Show me all you have."
*Whirr* - Responding to that cute invitation, Ian unleashes his cyan aura to clash with the purple one. He knows that he can't win against this guy, however, the previous fist has sent him into his Zone Stage.
The determination and focus are all placed on his opponent - Aetheria Ponyagrad.
Ian: "Don't go easy on me."
Aetheria: "Got it."
*Tch* - "F* this sh*t." - An unknown voice clangs throughout the divine cathedral, he is Loki - The Trickster.
"Ara, who dirties your eyes, darling? - This time with a gentle voice, through the mist of Autumn, her hand slightly raises his chin.
Loki: "Not really, I just got broken in the boundary between me and that inferiority."
"Don't worry, my dear, we are who rule this game." - Her name is Sigyn, a beautiful and faithful goddess, also she is Loki's wife.
Loki: *Pffff* "I've planned this sh*t for over years, and now just because of that f* Yujin, all is thrown into the garbage."
Sigyn: "But we have another guy right?"
She actually reminds him about the worst idiot he has made a contract with.
Loki (hesitating): "Oh… that guy? He is the worst option I can pick in my life."
Sigyn: "But we can boost him up."
That isn't a bad idea, within a drop of Loki's divine force, an ant can even be a calamity for any continent in Aurorize. However, why does he need to do that? There's no reason to give a present for an inferiority without any joy.
"We can give him an order to be stronger." - They both come up with the same idea.
Loki: "Alright, let's see."
Aurorize, at the west side of another continent, there are four players crossing through a singularity. Seems like they are looking for something important.
*Tch* - "This isolated zone doesn't even give me a chance to open my zone." - He equips an arming sword on his left hip, appearing inside a light armor, perhaps he is a warrior.
"Chill out, at least you can use your sword, I can't even load the map or lock on target." - With a signature purple robe for mages and an oak staff, surely she is a mage of this team.
*Whirr* - At the dark corner, behind the dense mist of dangers, there's something moving toward them, rapidly.
*Clash - Clash* - That warrior instantly parried two of the attacks, while the three left were negated by the one-and-only tanker.
"Lucas, left side." - He slightly reminds the warrior of the team.
*Clash* - But the next attack actually comes from his right side, it is a mana compression arrow.
Lucas: "It was right side, you'd get lost in your backyard, Fran."
Fran: "Shut the * up. Left!"
*Clash* - Another time that attack comes from the right side.
Lucas: "See? I told you."
*Crackle* - A light red circle is formed in the air, with a hexagon inside the second annulet.
"Burn!" - Suddenly a fire wall is built up around them, then it evaporates as if it wasn't there.
It is her intention, within those two seconds, all the mist surrounding them was wiped away, revealing there the five dark elves. But their eyes shine the red light of madness or even control.
Lucas: "Lylian."
Lylian: "Their head, kill them or save them, whatever, just destroy the purple pearl on the forehead."
Lucas: "Got it. Boost my speed, Lilian and protect her, Fran."
*Thud* - He pins the shield to the ground, unleashes his aura and builds up a full protection around him and the mage.
*Whirr* - Three arrows are shot directly to Lucas, he doesn't even need to dodge, directly blocking them all.
*Clash* - Birds of a feather flock together, one of those dark elves instantly parries his slash with a dagger.
This match isn't balanced by the way, the dagger is too disadvantaged to duel with an arming sword. Obviously the problem is its limited range and furthermore is the user's strength. One point six meter tall girl versus one point nine meter tall warrior, actually no hope for her to win this fight.
The first lesson that Lucas was taught is overwhelming others in the first attack. It's important to force the opponent to bite the disadvantage at the beginning, then take that chance to land a decisive slash to end this match immediately.
His red aura rapidly unleashes itself at the last second before the two swords clash each other.
The second lesson: never let others know you're going to use the first lesson in the fight.
With that strategy, Lucas has successfully dominated the fight within a first strike, knocking back his opponent two steps while sending her dagger flying straight to another dark elf.
Lylian: "Stand still!" - She releases her mana without any incantation or magic circle, it's an unofficial spell in this realm.
In other words, mages from lower dimensions can cast their spells via their volition and desires. However it isn't supposed to be stronger than official spells of this realm.
*Splash* - That cute head is smashed to scraps of meat and blood while the other is cut into half within a slash. Now they remain three archers, which means they are going to be cooked.
*Splash* - The third dark elf has downed.
*Squish - Squish* - Two earth stakes drove straight to the fourth one, she died with her eyes open.
Then Lucas looks at the fourth guy in his team, with a look of contempt, he slowly walks toward him. Then his hand suddenly grabs that guy's shoulder, throwing him straight to the one-and-only elf left.
Lucas: "Fight for your life, idiot."
When that guy's sight rises from the ground to the girl, he witnesses the death signal. His hands tremble under the overwhelming pressure, also his two legs, miserably running back to his team.
*Thud* - Lucas shows no mercy, his kick drives straight to the victim's lungs, sending him back to the beginning.
"Please, save me!" - He screams while others are laughing.
Back to two days ago, they needed someone to buy time for them to escape if needed during the exploration in singularity. That's why they came up with the slaves as a solution.
What else can be better than using a cheap price to "persuade" some "volunteers" to sacrifice "happily" for them. And the line up was a team of twelve beings, which means they have let eight slaves die just for fun.
"Please!" - He keeps screaming in his own hopelessness and others' derision.
Lucas: "If you can't do anything, then just die."
The mage is quite different, she wants to save that slave until they need to escape. She has carved an explosion seal on his back, whenever he tries to escape, it will blow him into nothing but just a little scrap of meat.
Lucas looks to the dark elf, he smirks and points to the slave with the killing signal.
Knowing that, she takes out a dagger and throws it straight to him, however it doesn't stab through his heart as planned.
His leg squirts out a fishy crimson blood, his eyes are full of tears, he miserably cows to Lylian, who is standing closest to him, with a hope of being rescued.
She slightly bends down with a friendly smile, her voice contains a distorted expression, "Do you, want to, live?".
She slowly plays with him, leading him around and around the hope and despair.
"Please! Please save me! With any price, I'll pay it all."
*Hahaha* - The tanker and warrior both laugh at his miserable expression, what is this kind of self-esteem? It is so funny, right?
Lucas steps forward, strongly stomps on that guy's head.
Lucas: "Lick it."
He actually obeys the order, nothing is more important than life, "Please, save me."
*Thud* - He got a strong kick in his face - "Who are you talking to? Watch your demeanor."
Lylian leisurely raises his chin, she looks straight to his teary eyes in a close range. Her smile is adorable and weirdly terrible in this case, she stabs her two fingers through his eye socket, slowly plays with it a bit and mercilessly takes out his left eye.
His agony is totally shown out via his scream, the bloody liquid overflows the emptiness on his face while he's miserably writhing on the ground.
Lylian: "Do you hate me?" - "No, not at all. Please save me."
She smiles.
Lylian: "So, do you love me?" - "Yes! Yes, please, please save me."
*Haha* - She kisses him and puts an insect inside his mouth, this is her special grown pet. Whenever it's still in his body, he can't escape from her for five meters.
She gently rubs his head.
Lylian: "Don't worry my dear, I will save you."
"Thanks, thanks a lot." - He forces himself to put out a smile, the most distorted and disgusting smile he's ever had in his life.
As having enough fun, she raises her staff, blocking the arrows from the dark elf and burning her inside a flame pillar.
There is a joy to see something burnt, right?
Then she locks him with a collar on his neck, as a dog, if she says west, there shall not be east for him.
"Thank… thanks a lot." - His voice trembles, but he needs to behave well, to survive.
At night, they camped inside a cave. As usual, as what they did to the slaves two days ago, they still drain his mana and pour it into a potion. In order to limit his stamina and strength on the next day, just for more fun and more fun.
Lucas kicks straight to his ribcage, breaking and healing, he needs to practice spells in order to master them in some days. That's why he is "healing" his "teammate" right now.
Lucas: "Am I a kind person?"
"Y… yes… you are a kind… person." - *Thud* - he got kicked in his ribcage again, breaking his two ribs beneath that pressure.
Lucas: "Don't worry, whenever you hurt yourself I will heal you. Because, we are best friends right?"
"Yes… we are best friends." - He hasn't eaten for a long day walking and getting mistreated, his empty stomach is hurting him, his drained sanity is hurting him and his "best friend" is hurting him too.
And that night, Lylian gave him a chance to be a man. She invited him to a secret date during midnight.
Her voice, her touch and each of her delicate movements are too charming. She sent him to heaven then tortured him to Helheilm - he was taken away the permission to be a man, forever.
Isn't it so cruel? Yes it is, but, in the dark side of an extremely massive world, how many guys will really care about justice for non-related people to them?
"Disgusting!" - A strong voice gives him hope at the end of this dark road. He is a knight with a silver medal on his armor - the design is the same as Aetheria's. Which means he is one of the Silver Knights of the Holy Council.
"I am Ruyn Liferberto, one of fifty Silver Knights in corps 1 under sir Aetheria. I'm asking you about your crimes on that victim." - His hair reflects the red light of justice, the desire to bring justice to everyone in this world.
Lucas: *Tch* "I thought that in this small country, you all aren't supposed to be here."
Ryun (frowning): "I asked you!" - His tone raises up two times, showing all his rage about this cruelty. All his behaviors tell the miserable guy that he is really a good person who will save him in this hell.
There's no longer a desire to explain or persuade, both of them grab their swords, pointing to each other with their own purposes.
Ryun: "God won't save you."
Lucas: "Which one? God of the Earth? God of the Oceans? God of the Moon? Tell me."
Ryun: "Heresy!"
This is Arezal - the continent lying on the north of where Ian opened his eyes up (Niliphon) - where the reputation and power of the Holy Council hasn't reached through yet. That's why the discrimination, stealing, slave trading and illegal purchasing are developed very well in this zone.
Fortunately, they are moving into this continent, in order to save and rescue all the innocent people from the damage of those evils. For this expedition, Ryun did it on his arbitrary decisions; he hasn't mobilized anyone to accompany him yet.
He aimed to the singularity, where slaves are used the most after being bought by guilds or travelers, hunters or rankers, whatever. He tries to determine how bad it is and rescue as much as he can then he'll plan a strategy later to apply on a large scale.
He raises his sword, it is a standard longsword made by adjusted Aurium - the best choice for a middle class warrior. It allows him to interact with mana 135% better than normal, and it even reaches to 165% if the forger is talented.
And his longsword contains a potential of 195% efficiency, which means he isn't a normal guy in Silver Knight Corps.
He rushes toward Lucas, the warrior of his team, and lands a heavy strike upon his head.
Whenever he tries to escape, an unknown force locks him up deadly in the trajectory of that sword.
*Clash* - The shockwave of those two weapons even knocked back all the fireballs of Lylian.
He swings his longsword vertically, taking down one arm of Lucas.
*Whirr - Clang* - Three earth stakes are shot straight to him, however the blessing of Holy Spirits is still there - easily protecting him from any damage.
Ryun: "Lighten up the passion of my heart…"
He steps forward a step, immediately unleashing a big zone of fire (Flame Zone - spell level 3). He also had enchanted his sword by the flame coming from his heart and justice (Fire Enchanting - spell level 2).
He swings it again, releases the fire to every opponent. This isn't a spell, it's just a basic technique applied with Fire Enchanting to maximize the pace of the battle. By swinging the sword technically with a specific trajectory, the fire is split into small pieces and forms various arrows shooting straight to enemies - Fire Shots.
*Boom* - Not a big one but it's still enough to cause an explosion while clashing with other objects - buying him time to assault the tanker from his rear, near the mage.
His eyes show nothing about hesitation or mercy, he strongly stabs his longsword through Fran's nape, instantly sending him to hell.
*Boom* - A fire beam is released straight to his rear in close range, while Lucas is approaching him directly.
He smirks, grabs his longsword in both the handle and the middle of the blade - using it to knock away the arming sword in Lucas's single hand to the left side. This is one variant of half-sword technique, especially used to land a heavy and fast strike to take away others' ability to fight.
The next technique is in the worst list of the worst things the swordsmen can do in their lives. Reverse grip - he uses his left hand to rotate the longsword 180 degrees while he's turning 180 degrees too.
His right hand suitably puts on the base of his sword, strongly pushing it back - stabbing through Lucas's belly.
Non-stop, he keeps rotating himself until he faces the criminal directly. He leisurely grabs the handle by his right hand, mercilessly stretches a line dividing him into two separated parts dipped inside the bloody liquid on the ground.
Now the target remains one - Lylian the mage. He moves toward her with a clear intention to do a small interrogation.
*Splash - Splash* - He cuts down all her hands and feet, letting her experience what she did to the miserable guy.
He takes out a seal, putting it strongly on her forehead. This is how the Council Holy investigates the criminals, via that special item, Ryun can watch her memories as if watching a film.
Ryun frowns his eyebrows, forming the most frustrated expression. Seems like he has found out the origin of this crime, then he looks to the slave who is lying on the ground.
He rapidly takes out another scroll, it contains the healing spell level 5 which can instantly heal normal people into their best condition whenever they're still alive. He also negates the seal of explosion on his back, absolutely frees him from slavery.
Ryan (smiling): "Don't worry, I am here already."
"Thanks, thanks a lot." - But he is still crying, he has lost the permission to be a man for his entire life, he doesn't know what he needs to do right now. He remains nothing in his life.
Ryun knows it, he knows that the scroll can't heal that kind of wound, but he can't do anything else.
Ryun: "Hey, how about joining us? Being a knight of the Holy Council."
"Can I?"
Ryun smiles, his smile shines as a sun on the sky, "Yes, you can."
Ryun: "I promise that you can."
"Thanks,... thanks a lot." - His eyes are full of tears again, but he is no longer in agony, he knows what he needs to do right now.
*Splash* - In his open eyes and mouth, in his surprise and confusion, he is split into two different parts. They both fall back, on to the crimson blood.
Yes, Ryun Liferberto has been killed within a simple slash, from that miserable guy. His smile is distorted disgustingly, finally, ah finally, he has gotten it.
Lylian witnessed it in her broken mind. She doesn't get it, she doesn't get the reason for this action.
He slowly turns back, with a shining smile, he swings his arm as a rope, dividing her into two parts too.
"2 - 2 - 2, now it's perfect." - He slightly glances at their remains and walks back to Ryun's corpse.
He puts his hand on those bodies and absorbs everything, even the blessing of Holy Spirits.
Loki laughs out loud, that performance even took him a tear, absolute cinema. He hasn't seen anyone throw away their self-esteem to achieve the goal, this is so fun to watch.
He snaps his fingers, giving that guy the promised gift - System. Loki also negated the response of the blessing when Ryun died, whenever that chess piece can inherit all those things, whenever the plan is moved on.
After swallowing all the prey into his stomach, he slowly restructures himself into Ryun Liferberto shape. His voice, his body, the height, the characteristics and even the memories are inherited perfectly. In other words, he is Ryun Liferberto right now - one of fifty Silver Knights under Aetheria Ponyagrad.
Ryun (smiling): "Seems like it's going to be fun."
|System #27 is here to contribute to your road leading to the final goal, master. Would you like to accept this companion?|
|Accept has been selected|
|Installing…|
|System #27 has been installed successfully.|
Ryun: "System, where are the nearest knights of this guy's corps."
|Southwest, at Vland, they are camping outside the castle of Duke Larin - Ryun's father.|
Ryun: *Haha* "It's time to meet 'my' father already."
He came with a role and left with another role; he killed but didn't kill anyone here, all the evidence was erased out of this world, he is no one, but also Ryun Liferberto.
Loki: "The game has just started, Yujin."
His laugh is the signal of the new journey and calamity to this world. Let's stir up this pond of muddy water.